


In Over Our Heads

by HauntMeReckless



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Canon-Typical Violence, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Clint and Natasha adopt Bucky, Collars, Cooked Up Plot, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Even A Little, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied Relationships, Leashes, Light Angst, Light BDSM, M/M, Minor Bucky Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Minor Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Other, Platonic Relationships, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Some Humor, Some Plot, not joking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 20:21:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7906270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HauntMeReckless/pseuds/HauntMeReckless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint put tension on the chain leash and applied steady, downward pressure, but not roughly. He didn’t force it because there was resistance and he wasn’t going to force Barnes to do anything. “On your knees.” he ordered. “On your knees, Soldier.” It was a wild shot in the dark but the name worked. Barnes was exhausted but a knee dropped right to the floor and suddenly Clint had the Winter Soldier on his knees at his feet.</p><p>And something else happened that was equally as shocking. Total and complete obedience. Barnes slipped into a completely complaint state, something like being between catatonic and submissive is the only way Clint could phrase it. And it was definitely leftover Soviet conditioning.</p><p>“You’ve got him.” Natasha murmured quietly, grimly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Over Our Heads

**Author's Note:**

> The plot is made up and there isn't a whole lot of it!

 

**[Part I]**

  
Clint Barton could say offhand that he’d only been caught completely off guard, and with no idea what to do in those situations, only a handful of times in the years he’s been with the Avengers. And now he could say that those experiences numbered on both hands. But this… This was something altogether new and unprecedented. To the point where at first Clint didn’t even know how to react outright.

They’d been tackling a mission in Ibiza - not Hydra this time. A rouge militant group determined to summon the undead, and actually succeeding, had pushed the Avengers into action immediately. Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Man, and Captain American and responded. And unofficially an Avenger and more on a ‘lease’ from the government - James Barnes, the man mostly known as the Winter Soldier. Although Steve really didn’t like them calling him that on record or out in the field to avoid any unnecessary triggers. But it was unavoidable mostly. They called him Barnes mostly, ‘Bucky’ seemed to be strictly reserved for Steve and they respected that too. They pretty much did what they could.

But this mission… this mission had gone south from the very start and it was looking to end just as badly. Who knew that being brainwashed thoroughly in the past made a person far more easily manipulated by an ancient and angry Egyptian necromancer?

Clint was actually glad that on this mission they didn’t have the Hulk. Because when he’d been turned against the Avengers again, used by the necromancer alongside Barnes to take out their comrades and teammates, he was only relieved he hadn’t had a ‘loving and well meant’ pummeling from the Hulk to add to his current list of aches and pains and the horrible headache he had in his head and neck and down through his shoulders.

Jokes aside? It had been a downright nightmare. All over again.

Now, as the sand and dust settled, Captain America was badly injured - mostly at the Winter Soldier’s hands. Iron Man was taking Steve out on his own power to get medical help from their secure SHIELD locations, which were too few and too far from Ibiza, and Clint and Natasha could only hope and believe that he would be all right. And refuse to think otherwise. Because they _couldn’t_ think otherwise.

All they could do now, for Steve too, was to find Bucky.

Left with no choice, the Avengers had killed the necromancer and ended the undead resurrection, eliminating his hold on the Winter Soldier. But predictably, because that’s what the Winter Soldier did, he had disappeared once a hand was no longer on his leash. And without handlers to return to, and Hydra long since buried, it was an alarming thought of just where he could go and how far he could run. And how quickly he could disappear.

But now… now that they’d found him in a ruined portion of the decaying temple where the necromancer’s body still lay - Clint was almost too taken back to react at first. Barnes was on a literal leash with a collar around his throat.

Natasha gave Clint an uneasy glance. “Yeah about that.” she murmured, somewhat quieter so as not to spook Barnes. Who was cornered and injured with not a whole lot of places left to run. “Istephan tried to keep him for himself while you were… indisposed.” She turned her eyes back on Bucky and her tone wasn’t uncaring, even for her, when she said what she did next. “Apparently he was pretty impressed with how well he nearly managed to kill us.”

“Not me huh?” Clint tried at a joke. Even though the queasy feeling in his stomach at the thought of his mind being taken over again, that he’d been used to hurt others, made him feel sick and cold all over despite the desert heat. “I’m insulted.”

“Yeah well.” Natasha actually looked a little stunned by Barnes’ condition. “You might be lucky.”

Clint thought that he was pretty lucky. And he was relieved it was all over. But it wasn’t over for Barnes. The man was standing and staring at them in a wary, quiet silence. A silence that was deadly and maybe Clint recognized that as a former intelligence operative. Natasha seemed to be just as aware, probably more so. And Barnes looked like he’d been through a hell of a fight but he was on his feet, dust covered with a cut lip and probably more injuries to show for under his uniform. Clint’s eyes flickered to the leash caught on a ruined part of ancient Egyptian architecture and held mostly taught. Barnes could sure as hell rip it and the collar off easily…. but he hadn’t done either and he wasn’t.

“I have to tell you something.” Natasha said as Clint kept trying to ease closer, to at least get down onto a crumbling pillar and work his way down the collapsed stone floor where Bucky stood.

“Yeah?” Clint asked, carefully raising his hands when all of Barnes’ attention was suddenly on him. But he didn’t back down either. Something… something was tipping Clint off to something deeper going on, psychologically. Barnes could rip that collar and leash off but he wasn’t. If anything he seemed to be held in place by it. And Clint was suddenly happy he was not the most ‘vanilla’ of individuals. Because he was starting to wonder just what the hell Hydra might have done to the Winter Soldier to ensure his obedience. But Natasha confirmed his suspicions.

“Those who will not be named…” Natasha gave a glance at Bucky but she really hadn’t stopped watching him either. “I believe I saw a leash attached to his harness once. I suspected-”

Clint’s boot slipped a bit and a piece of stone crumbled and skittered to the ground in a cloud of dust. Bucky moved like he was going to bolt but didn’t even disturb the leash. He just… stopped. His startle reaction had been instant but so had his response to that leash and collar. And Clint indicated again with his held up hands mostly in apology even if the slip had been an accident… but he kept his posture and his own energy dominant and firm. He wasn’t yielding. Not for a second. Because the collar and leash wouldn’t hold much power over the Winter Soldier without someone holding it. And more than anything, they couldn’t let him slip away while he was entirely checked out like this.

Instead… Clint reached for the leash itself when he was close enough, holding Barnes’ eyes with his own and not for a second breaking that eye contact. It was a display of dominance now. Barnes was completely checked out. And the Winter Soldier was staring at him now… an ‘Asset’ without a ‘Handler’. He was staring at Clint like he was just waiting for Clint to either take hold of the leash and him or… Clint wasn’t sure what. But that stare was deeply unsettling. He’d never seen another human being look at him so devoid of any sort of direction and entirely looking at him for it. He was just… blank. Blank and very dangerous. The Soldier could at any time check him off as a threat. And Clint wasn’t sure both he and Natasha could stop him from running or take a beating the likes of which he’d given Rogers under the control of the necromancer.

“Easy.” Natasha warned.

Clint took her advice, wincing just a little. He was hurting all over and he felt sick. Whatever the necromancer had done it already had a hell of a hangover and if anything, it looked like Bucky was feeling it too. “All right.” Clint took the chain leash in hand and, being careful not to jerk the collar and the man attached to both, pulled it free from the rock where it was trapped between.

And just like that, with the leash completely in Clint’s hands, Barnes looked to check back in. But not completely. Just enough to look suddenly completely bewildered and confused. And Clint was all ready to drop the leash and apologize but he sensed that wasn’t the best thing to do either. They had to get him to stay.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Clint soothed, sitting back on the stone pillar and keeping a firm two hands on the long chain leash. This was different. This wasn’t about dominance. This was about showing Bucky some stability and that they weren’t going to hurt him. “Barnes?”

“Don’t drop the leash.” Natasha said urgently and she tried to get a little closer. “James? James you’re all right.”

“Easy Natasha I think you’re confusing him.” Clint winced. _“Barnes_ -” And he tightened the leash just a little, just enough for Bucky to feel it. “Eyes on me. Hey.”

Head tipped down, blue eyes looking at him through dark lashes and a thick curtain of wild brown hair, Bucky did as he was told. And that metal fist was clenched at his side and he was trembling, honest to god trembling, but there was… Clint could swear there was something like a desperate plea in Barnes’ eyes. He was panicking too. Clint could see it.

“ _Easy_ , easy.” Clint soothed. He had a strange mix of the man and the Asset now. One was panicked and the other seemed to desperately need to be controlled, given some sort of stability. But now that he was holding his eyes with his own and holding that leash nice and securely, Barnes was actually calming. “That’s it.” he murmured, loud enough for both of them to hear. “That’s it, easy.” And a moment later, when he felt like Barnes was calm enough at least, he carefully directed his voice to Natasha. “Remember those late nights in Bosnia?”

“Yeah.” Natasha said immediately.

“One out of ten, how far should I take this?”

“Ten.” Her instant response was more shocking than anything else but all Clint did was pull in a carefully measured, shocked breath. And not give her the look he wanted to. Ten. All right. Ten it was… he could do this. And while he wouldn’t question that, this was only the love of his best friend’s life he was holding at the end of a leash. Between Barnes disappearing or worse or having a full scale breakdown… Clint also gathered his strength because he wasn’t sure just how hard this was going to be and he felt like a special type of death warmed over.

Ten. Which meant… Clint had to own the Winter Soldier.

He got to work because they needed to get out of the area before the authorities swarmed in. They needed to get to a safe house and he still had one in Ibiza they could count on. He was sure Natasha did too. But more they had time. So Clint stood up on the pillar. Immediately Bucky looked a bit nervous but Clint kept his steps measured and careful. Both to keep from falling off and to keep from startling Bucky too. He didn’t want that.

Gathering up the chain in his hands as he got closer, and eased closer, Clint talked to Barnes quietly. “You’re all right.” he assured him. “Just take it easy. Stay nice and still for me.” And using the rubble from the floor, he used those two inches above Barnes to his advantage. Because Bucky was taller. And Steve hadn’t taken putting weight on him lightly either in the months of his rehabilitation. Not in the least bit.

Clint put tension on the chain leash and applied steady, downward pressure, but not roughly. He didn’t force it because there was resistance and he wasn’t going to force Barnes to do anything. “On your knees.” he ordered. “On your knees, Soldier.” It was a wild shot in the dark but the name worked. Barnes was exhausted but a knee dropped right to the floor and suddenly Clint had the Winter Soldier on his knees at his feet.

And something else happened that was equally as shocking. Total and complete obedience. Barnes slipped into a completely complaint state, something like being between catatonic and submissive is the only way Clint could phrase it. And it was definitely leftover Soviet conditioning.

“You’ve got him.” Natasha murmured quietly, grimly.

Clint hoped, he desperately prayed to whatever deity would listen, that he just hadn’t done irreparable damage to Barnes.

Clint pushed that aside and quickly sat back on his heels in front of Bucky so that he could check for any severe injuries, cupping his chin and willing his head up so that he could take a look at that lip. Bucky didn’t even resist and helped to raise his head, gaze despondently obedient over Clint’s shoulder. “All right.” Clint murmured. “Let’s get out of here, hm?”

Barnes didn’t even blink.

Clint stood and took the leash in hand. “On your feet.” he ordered softly.

When Barnes struggled, Clint gently took him by the elbow and helped him to his feet.

Natasha only said one thing when they both emerged out of the pit of fallen rubble, mostly on their feet, one of them on a leash and the other with that leash in hand. “We’re going to need a different collar and leash.”

 

They used Clint’s safe house in Ibiza, an upper apartment in a neighborhood that would be ‘rough’ to anyone else that wasn’t a highly trained spy or assassin. It had three rooms and one of them was a bathroom, it was small and a little cramped, but it had running water and that was all they cared about. Clint had definitely seen a lot worse and he knew Natasha had too. And it went without saying that Barnes would agree if he was any state to agree. But he definitely wasn’t.

They all headed right for the shower. Natasha was Clint’s closest friend, it wasn’t anything they hadn’t seen before, and right now they had to function as a unit. Soldiers without embarrassment. Which was no problem for either of them. And Barnes was still doing as he was told with little care as to who might be naked or not, least of all him.

“All right.” Clint sat Bucky down on the small and old porcelain toilet, old enough to have an old fashioned wooden water tank, urging him to sit with gentle pressure on the leash and a hand on Bucky’s thigh. It was the middle of the afternoon, they’d drawn some strange looks, but relatively managed to secure the place without incident. And Barnes was still obediently listening to Clint.

Natasha was already undressing and Clint would be there himself. But now Bucky was their first concern. Because he couldn’t exactly take care of himself right now. That necromancer had really did a number of him to say the very least. Natasha reached out after she’d dropped her shirt in the corner on the floor, caressing Bucky’s chin with a hand. “Hey.” she soothed, voice soft and barely above a whisper. “Hanging in there, yeah?”

“I think so.” Clint smiled at Barnes gently but it almost turned into a pained, sympathetic wince. All right, it absolutely did. Bucky was damn despondent. But he got serious, carefully reaching up for the collar around Bucky’s neck. “We’re going to switch out this collar for something a little bit less…” he let the latch come undone and pulled the worn, warm leather away from the buckles. “Ancient.”

And Natasha surprised Clint by easing a hand onto Bucky’s throat once the collar was free and taking his neck into a firm, hard grip, soothingly saying something to him in Russian. She practically cooed it at him in a praising, loving tone. And Bucky actually submitted to her, tipping his head up in her grasp and taking in a quick breath. He looked a little more aware now too and Clint gave the collar a studious, suspicious look. It was almost too intricate to work out. Magically imbued? Maybe.

Either way, he set it aside with the thick chain leash, both rattling loudly to the floor.

And Clint quickly dragged the bag with the collar Natasha had bought and slid it over to his feet. He hadn’t seen it yet but it was beautiful. And he wondered how much Natasha might have spent on it. Probably three inches wide - the band was thick and padded and the leather was a deep black and made out of the most durable leather. It had a matching leash too and he gave her a surprised, maybe even amazed look of disbelief. Natasha just gave him a wink where she was still holding Bucky by the throat.

“All right big guy.” Clint murmured, giving Barnes an encouraging smile as they made the switch between Natasha’s hand and the thick, black leather collar. Perfect fit even for a human neck, it was pretty big and wide.

Natasha said to Clint. “You got him?”

Clint nodded as he clipped on the leash. “You bet.”

Undressing Barnes wasn’t hard, even with the leash on it just took a little maneuvering, and Clint made quick work of it but… Bucky got a little shy at the very last. Shy might not even be the right word. Nervous, insecure. Those were better words. And Clint really got a good understanding of why as soon as Bucky’s simple, tight black shirt was off - the last layer underneath the leather jacket. The scarring was… neat. Precise. But it wasn’t exactly pretty. It wasn’t like Clint had ever wondered just how that arm was attached. But it was almost seamless. Artificially attached but… it was attached.

Clint looked up, into Bucky’s eyes. “That doesn’t come off, does it?”

“It does.” Barnes said quietly, eyes unfocused just past Clint’s left shoulder. He didn’t make eye contact like this Clint noticed.

Clint blinked in shock. He couldn’t imagine just how the hell it could but didn’t push the matter. He also couldn’t help but suppress a nauseating chill just how quietly sure Bucky had admitted that fact. So it had been done before. And of course it had. He’d been nothing but a tool to Hydra.

“All right.” Clint exchanged a quiet look with Natasha. And there was something in her eyes. Something that suggested a little bit of horror and the suggestion that she’d already seen all this before. But like Clint… the thought of all the things Hydra could have done and had done, the list was long and atrocious. It left a cold, sick feeling in your gut that was for certain.

Clint was sure that Bucky didn’t want anyone else holding that leash. The Winter Soldier… it was like he’d designated Clint as his new, temporary handler while Barnes’ mind rebooted. That was the only way to phrase it. The necromancer had mentally shocked him, pushed him right into Hydra’s conditioning and it directly conflicted with what Clint was sure was a hell of a lot of therapy to cope with all that. But that was all right. The Avengers were family. Bucky was one of their own regardless.

And Clint was starting to think that he and Natasha were Barnes’ best option right now. He wasn’t sure Steve could handle this.

Clint held Bucky’s leash in his teeth as he stripped down to his boxers. His shirt was already on the floor with Natasha’s and she was checking over some bruising along Bucky’s ribs. “They’re not broken-” she looked up at Bucky’s face, his complete lack of response to her probing touch, which had to hurt. “But.”

“We’ll wrap them.” Clint said. And then he nodded to Barnes. “Take his boots off.”

Natasha gave him a playful ‘are you kidding’ look but did as Clint told her. Clint just gave her a somewhat apologetic look. The Soldier had put him in charge of this situation unintentionally. He had to go with it but she wasn’t blaming him.

Clint reached down for Bucky’s pants, holding the leash in his teeth again, and was ready to take them off just as Natasha was putting Bucky’s tactical boots by the sink. And he got them off with a little muscle without even having to ask the man to move. With as catatonic as he was tending to be, Clint figured it wasn’t such a bad thing. And the man was scarred. They all had their scars. But taking a look at him now, completely stripped… Natasha’s eyes were wandering. Clint was trying not to do the same because his eyes were catching a puzzle and it wasn’t a great picture to put together.

There were the usual scars from missions - ‘work’ in the field. Those were obvious to two highly trained professionals who’d taken a majority of those injuries themselves. But there were other… highly suspicious ones. And Natasha reached out to check something Clint couldn’t make out on the inside of Bucky’s thigh. And her hand was unobtrusive, her touch was probably gentle, but the second she made contact with what looked like something like actual honest to god words - Bucky moved. He moved so damn quick that the tranquility in the room was immediately shattered.

And he had Natasha by the throat before either of them could react and that was really saying something.

“Hey, hey - whoa!” Clint shouted, quickly grabbing onto the leash and onto Bucky.

Natasha couldn’t talk, she was struggling but the hold on that metal hand was unbreakable. All she could do was grab his arm and wrist and hold on and the look in her eyes - Clint never saw her scared. And it drove his heart right into his throat. Clint grabbed Barnes by the collar without a thought. “Let her go!” Clint ordered. “Barnes! Let her go! _That’s an order_!”

Natasha tried to choke out something and Clint felt his heart skip a beat. “Barnes! _Barnes-_!” he shouted as loud as he could.

Abruptly Bucky let her go, Natasha fell back against the sink, and Bucky was almost struggling for air just as much as she was. “You’re okay.” Natasha told him hoarsely, holding onto her throat as she got her breath back. “You’re okay. That was my fault-”

Bucky was shaking so hard in Clint’s arms that he was practically rattling.

“You’re all right.” Clint kept telling him over and over low and quiet, gripping that collar tight, the other around Bucky’s stomach and hips. “You’re all right.”

“I’m so-” Bucky didn’t even get the words out, it sounded like he immediately choked on them and tears filled his eyes. And Natasha… it looked like her heart broke. Her own eyes filled with tears and she quickly stepped forward away from the sink. She dropped down to her knees beside Bucky and took his metal hand into hers, brushing a kiss across the top of it as she squeezed and then over his wrist.

“It’s all right.” she promised him, gripping his hand and bringing it close, up against her chest until she was pressed right up against that metal arm and Bucky too. “I’m okay. I’m all right. It’s not your fault-” Natasha soothed.

And Bucky lost it. With a hitched breath he started crying and obviously he was trying to stop himself but Clint… Clint thought his own heart was going to break and he tried to blink back his own tears and it probably didn’t work.

And they both held him, tight as they could, tight enough in some places to probably bruise but Bucky seemed to need that too. Clint had a bewildered, brief thought about how Steve even handled it. And this was Barnes _rehabilitated_. It was no wonder he’d wanted to put himself back into a deep freeze in Wakanda. But Clint also firmly believed that anyone who’d talked him out of it had also done the right thing in convincing him not to. Probably. Clint couldn’t help but think that anyone was salvageable.

Needless to say, it took a few minutes to get Bucky back together.

But Clint and Natasha didn’t rush a thing.

 

TBC


End file.
